Gold for Chile!

Chile took Gold today in the Men’s 5000m T11 at the Paralympics. Cristián Valenzuela beat Canada’s Dunkerley (Silver medal) and Japan’s Wada (Bronze medal) to first place with a personal best time of 15:26.26. The current men’s Paralympic world record holder, Kenya’s Henry Wanioke, completed the race in 15:11.07 at the 2004 Athens Paralympics Games. Valenzuela’s time is approximately three minutes slower than the current overall men’s 5000m world record of 12:37.35 (Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele in 2004). The win gives Chile their first Paralympic medal and indeed is their first of the year, failing as they did to win a medal at the London 2012 Olympics. Contrary to great expectations, the previous women’s archery World Champion Denise Van Lamoen dashed Chilean hopes for medal status when she was easily knocked out in a second round match. Valenzuela’s historic Paralympic Gold will no doubt give Chile a well needed sporting boost. See the race and ceremony below: